Top 10: Sarasota County ranked as one of the best places to retire in Florida

Samantha Gholar, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·2 min read
The Bay Park is one of the many recreational amenities offered in Sarasota County.
The Bay Park is one of the many recreational amenities offered in Sarasota County.

SARASOTA — Sarasota County has been spotlighted in another ranking, this time as the second best place to retire in the state of Florida, according to the online, consumer-focused financial information and advisor company, SmartAsset.

Sarasota came in one spot behind Sumter County in the ranking of 10 Best Places To Retire in Florida according the the research survey analysis. The study determined the 10-county ranking using four criteria, including tax burden, access to medical care, opportunity for recreation and social activity. Data also included the number of doctors’ offices, recreation centers and retirement centers measured against the number of older residents in the county as a percentage of the total population.

Sarasota scored higher than most on medical facilities, recreation facilities and retirement communities.

Following Sarasota in the top 10 were Martin, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Palm Beach, Indian River, Pinellas and Highlands counties.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Sarasota Campus, is among the many medical facilities in Sarasota County.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Sarasota Campus, is among the many medical facilities in Sarasota County.

Sarasota continues to make headlines as a destination for not only retirees but millennials, vacationers and party-goers. This year alone, the area has been named in a half dozen other online rankings and lists.

In June, moving and storage company PODS ranked Sarasota near the top of its 2023 list of the top 20 cities where people are moving across the country.

Similar to SmartAsset, online storage unit company StorageCafe, also ranked and noted Sarasota as one of the top spots for retirees in the country according to its study.

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Another ranking on the opposite end of the destination spectrum ranked Sarasota as one of the top 10 best party cities in the U.S. in April. According to BonusFinder.com, Sarasota earned its number four spot on the Top 10 list because of its abundance of live music events, bars, hotels, and late night restaurants per capita.

Each year, SmartAsset researches the country's regions and composes data on regional factors that affect the quality of life for retirees, including tax-friendliness, medical care, and social opportunities.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota named No. 2 county in Florida for retirement by SmartAsset